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Submission Guidelines

What do we accept?

We accept any indie press items. This means self published, small press, etc. If you’re with one of the major book publishers don’t bother hitting submit. We may review your stuff, but at our own whim.

We’re sorry to sound callous in this respect. Really, we’re sure your book is fantastic. Our reason for being selective is because major press books have plenty of other reviewers to choose from. Small press and indie … not so much.

We might make an exception. How/Why? Simple, if this is your first book with a major press, or if we’ve reviewed your indie stuff before and you’ve recently been contracted with a major press we might consider your book. The process is slightly different though. Fill out the submission form, be sure to check the exception request box, with your synopsis we need you to include your compelling argument for why you would rather we reviewed it than one of the other places that actually specialise in major press (on the To-Do list is a links page to said reviewers. We promise!)

Why only indie and small press?

Indie and small press have a bad rep, so much so that they’re often refused outright by other review sites. Even those that will accept them do so with a tone of charity or, if not that, have simply stopped accepting them due to an overwhelming to-read list.

What’s to stop you from being flooded and putting a submission freeze?

Policy. There simply will never be a submission freeze. Might our to-read list get so large that we’ll never get out from under it? Possibly. What will we do about it? Nothing. There’s a catch though: we will post links to the books we have in our backlog. So the authors may not have a review, but they have some much needed (and anyone with this kind of guts we can also say deserved) promotion.

What exactly is this Backlog of which you speak?

Sounds a little ominous doesn’t it? Actually it’s any book that hasn’t been claimed by one of our reviewers. Books submitted for review will be put in the backlog as soon as possible (preference for within 24hr, but it can take that long sometimes to be at a computer and adding to the backlog is a wretch from a tablet, especially after some recent WP updates). Really, if you find your title on the backlog page simply rejoice: we have your submission and have seen it.

I’ve read some of the books in your backlog and want to review them.

If you have, write your review. Click here. Fill out that form. If we like your style, you’re in. You will receive a Contributor invite and will be able to submit moderated reviews. After 10 approved reviews you will be offered full authorship.

Yes. We will always strive to crosspost to GoodReads and to Amazon.com. Those of us who are users of other services like Nook or iBooks will usually crosspost there as well, but that will be up to the individual reviewer and what (e)book retailer (s)he prefers. The reason for those two names is: wider visibility. GoodReads is followed directly by many people, and is what some online booksellers show reviews from (e.g. Kobo), Amazon for the simple fact that it comprises nearly half or more of all book sales print or electronic.

Do you accept non-fiction?

No. As the name implies we accept fiction work only. Poetry is fine, and I suppose scripts are okay. Non-fiction is best reviewed by peers in the field of the subject — other histories, other scientists, etc. — where the review can focus on the accuracy of the information presented. Our purpose is to tell people where they can find some entertaining, moving, heart-warming, exciting reads.

What about children’s books, picture books, etc.?

If it’s fiction, it’s fiction. Kids’ books are fine. Picture books, might be a fuzzy area, but what the hell, right — we can certainly look and go “Yep, that is one fine drawing of Mr Giraffe, by golly!” and say so.

When will you ask for the book so you can review it?

When we get there. We start at the top of the backlog and work our way down looking for something that catches our attention. There is a we. So, just because something is just too much not my cuppa to get through it, it will be the next reviewer’s or the next’s.

When will my review show up?

When we’re done reading it. We’re people, normal people with normal day jobs and, in most cases, our own artistic or literary careers. Not to mention, sometimes, we just need a moment to sit and watch a movie, or read a book that we don’t have any reason to think too much about to keep from throttling someone; same as everyone else. Once we’ve asked for your book you can bet we’re reading it once we have it. We will read it as quickly as we can, but we’ll read it, so depending on the length of the work that might take some time.

What if I don’t see my book in your backlog?

If you’ve submitted your book to us an email is sent to us containing the information provided. Once in awhile either the site decides the submission was spam (by what criterion? no one knows!) and so doesn’t email it or the email server decides it’s spam (for any number of stupid reasons). We do check for this. But it, naturally, can cause a delay.

Best advice is: Wait 3 days NOT counting the day you sent it (e.g. if you sent on a Friday give us through Monday) if those three days come and those three days go, and still you are not on the backlog … assume aliens have absconded with your query (damned aliens first cow lips, now this!) and it’s a perfectly good idea to resend it. Give us another three days and if it still is winding up in some Betelgeusian cookpot email us at indieficreviews (at) gmail (dot) com. Subject: Aliens ate my query — TWICE! (seriously, put that so it stands out, okay?) then give us your book’s spiel and sample links, and all that as you would have on the query form. Anything sent by this method that isn’t because of alien abduction will be deleted without being read. (You’ve been warned)